Mpftovement



' w. E. SMITH.

Projectile.

' Patented May 16, 1865.

ject-iles in which the body of ,the shot or shell is provided with an expansible packing ring,

. which is forced outward or against the lands of the gun and into the grooves by the action of a longitudinally-sliding base-piece, fitted over and around a tail-piece of the body of the shot; and my invention has for its object to regulate or control the extent of expansion or distension of the packing-ring, so that the latter may not be forced outward against the lands of the gun to any greater extent than is sufficient to cause it to perfectly fill the bore and grooves (and properly rotate the shot) and thereby avoid all unnecessary and detrimental wedging or forcing of the packin g-rin g against the walls of the bore; and to these ends my invention consists in the employment of a corrugated or grooved packing-ring, in-

combination with a sliding base-piece or follower, said packing-ring and follower being arranged upon the body of the shot in such a manner that the extent of motion of the follower is limited, as hereinafter more fully explained.

To enable others skilled in the art to fully understand my invention, 1 will proceed to describe it with reference to the drawings.

Figure .l is an elevation of my improved projectile. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal central section of the same, and Fig. 3 is a cross-section at the lines aar, Fig. 1. Figs. 4, 5, and 6 are,- respectively, an elevation, a back view, and a longitudinal scction'ot' my improvement, representing its appearance after the packingring has been distended orcxpanded.

, Similar letters ot'reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

A is'the body of the shot or shell, and is cyliiulro-eonoidal in form, and'is contracted near its base, forming the shoulder D, and is then continued to its rear end in a cylinder of smaller diameter, concentric with the body A.

PATENT.OFFICE' 1TH .I MINQHAM,:CON ECIICUTJL =ME (T: N "mam IRTQJ Sprcihcation:lornnng partof:llettersfhtdnt No. 47,75'=ldated Maylfi, 19.65. i

Upon this smaller cylinder titted a f int; E'etMIQ ig' OOYQ aek 'errina "B .(h nel forward edge restingagainst'the le l ll extending nearly to the rear end "of A, having the follower 0 attached to it, which forms the base of the projectile. The packing-ring is madeby casting it in a metal mold of proper form; and is united to the follower at the same time; The follower being set in the mold, the

, molten metal is poured in and runs around and into the groove, (shown on the edge of the follower,) th ereby uniting them permanently.

The portion of the body A on which the packing-ring Bis put is'formed with ribs or depressions W', running longitudinally, upon which the packing-ring fits, to prevent the latter from turning on the shot; or said body A may be octagonal, or any other desired shape,

to prevent the slipping or twisting around (by the power exerted to follow the grooves) of the packing-ring. The packing-ring and follower being fitted upon the body A, they are all turned oil together to such a size that they will lit easily within the lands of the gun.

. The angle of corrugation or the angle of the I sides of the grooves of the packing-ring may be made such that upon being forced into a straight line, perpendicular to the axis of the body A, the circumference will be expanded sutticiently to fill the'grooves of the gun, and no more, thus relieving the gun from the powerful wedge-like action that an ulimited expansion would allow.

1n the small (triangle) figure, indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 2 and the small letters 0 d b, it will be seen that by swinging the line 0 (I from the center point, 0, until it coincides with c I) the expansion will be denoted by the difl'erence between the two distances 0 b and on, (c a being the perpendicular distance from c to the surface of the projectile,) which is the distance a I). This distance should be equal to the depth of the grooves in the gun, with an allowance made for wjindage or the difference between the diameter of the shot and the bore of the gun. The sum of the spaces 1 3 and 5 6 are equal, and the space from c to f, between thefollower and body theA, is also equal to 1 23. Therefore, when the follower U is forced against the body A the spaces will all be closed, and the paekin g ring will be expanded, as shown in Figs. 4 and 6, and forced into the grooves and against the-lands of the gun, thereby imparting a gyratory motion to the projectile, corresponding to the spiral of the grooves of the gun, which keeps the axis of the projectile parallel with the trajectory throughout its flight, causing the shot or shell to strike on its point or forward end,instead of its side, as an im perfect packing-ring would do.

It will be seen that since the corrugated packing-ring is forced together or has its grooves closed by the forward motion of the follower, and that since said follower is limited in its extent of motion, the packingring cannot be forced outward or expanded any more than is necessary.

WILSON H. SMITH.

Witnesses:

THOMAS B. DE FOREST, FITCH SMITH. 

